We arrived at Amma’s school in Calicut at night and the next afternoon, the bus took us to the stadium for the programme. The fully filled stadium, the music, and the atmosphere around the stadium reminded us of the Amritavarsham in Cochin in 2003. We were crying with emotion and joyous to experience again so […]
There were a couple of new songs tonight. In between a few songs there was some commotion as Amma wanted the wireless mikes to be changed. Some laughter followed from the audience as She took down one of the mikes while making a face at the mixer and handed it to Karthik, the sound guy. […]
‘Amma soap’ Today, Gaia Amrita, went to Amma for darshan. Then she went to her mother and said, “Having darshan is like taking a shower, because afterward, you smell so good. We need a soap that smells like Amma so we can always smell like her and pretend to be her.”— – – — — […]
The Kanyakumari programme was held in a large field just north of the city. It was bounded on two sides by groves of trees. Sitting on stage, I heard what I thought were the calls of many different birds. The sounds were clear, distinct, varied, and came from both sides of the stage. It was […]
In Madurai, the public programme was held just near the center of the city, on the grounds of a Medical Society. Thousands of people came from all around to receive Amma’s darshan, attracted to the light of her radiant smile, her warm embrace. Their egos burning in the flame of her infinite love. Amma’s light […]
As the South Indian Tour progressed through Tamil Nadu towards KanyaKumari, finally ending up in Trivandrum, two questions many people on tour asked were ‘Where are our accommodations?’ and ‘Where is the programme site?’ For Brahmastanam Festivals, the programme would always be at the Ashram, and we would stay at Amma’s school. For Public Programmes, […]
As darshan extended to the morning hours, all along the beach, local fishermen were extending their nets into the ocean just next to the programme site. The net made a semi circle which went out about 1 km into the waters. There were two lines of men tugging on the net – pulling it back […]
At the Chennai Public Programmes, shortly after bhajans and meditation, I was working Security and Crowd Control – checking tokens near the corner of the stage on the men’s side. The tokens were to be taken a little further up the line. The crowd is mostly Indian, but there is an occasional Westerner. I was […]
The other week, towards the end of the Trichy public programme, Amma showered her blessings on a very small being. I had been sitting on stage, fighting (once more) against falling asleep after a long night, when suddenly a bunch of devotees rushed towards Amma. I normally don’t feel like jumping in the crowd, but […]